leather
Millions of cows, pigs, sheep, and goats are slaughtered for their skin every year.
They are castrated, branded, and dehorned and have their tails docked—all without
anesthetics. Then they are trucked to slaughter, bled to death, and skinned.
Watch "Stella McCartney Takes On the Leather Trade" to learn more.
Wool
Shearing sheep involves more than just a haircut. Because shearers are usually paid
by volume rather than by the hour, they often work too fast and disregard the animals'
welfare. Sheep are routinely punched, kicked, and cut during the shearing process.
Much of the world's wool comes from Australia, where tens of millions of sheep each
year undergo "mulesing," a gruesome procedure in which instruments resembling gardening
shears are used to cut dinner plate–size chunks of skin and flesh from the backsides
of live animals—often without anesthetics.
Watch "Pink
Speaks Up for Sheep" to learn more.
Fur
Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages.
Fur farmers use the cheapest and cruelest killing methods available, including suffocation,
electrocution, gas, and poison.
Watch "A
Shocking Look Inside Chinese Fur Farms" to learn more.
Angora
Angora rabbits are strapped to a board for shearing, kicking powerfully in protest. The clippers inevitably bite into their flesh, with bloody results. Angoras have very delicate foot pads, making life on a wire cage floor excruciating and ulcerated feet a common condition. Because male Angora rabbits have only 75 to 80 percent of the fur yield of females, they are killed at birth on many farms.
Watch "THE TRUTH BEHIND ANGORA FUR" to learn more.
down
Down is plucked from geese and ducks either while they are alive or after slaughter.
Many geese used for down are held down by workers who tear out the birds' feathers
while the animals shriek in pain and terror. They are often plucked so hard that
their skin rips open, leaving gaping wounds that workers crudely stitch back together
in the same unsterile environment in which the birds were plucked—and all without
any anesthetics.
Watch "Alicia Silverstone Urges Fans to Ditch Down" to learn more.
silk
Silk is the fiber that silkworms weave to make cocoons. To obtain silk, worms are
steamed or gassed alive in their cocoons by manufacturers.
exotic skins
"Exotic" animals, such as alligators, are factory-farmed for their skins and meat.
They may be beaten to death with hammers and axes, sometimes remaining conscious
and in agony for up to two hours after they're skinned. Snakes and lizards may be
skinned alive because of the belief that live flaying makes exotic leather more
supple.
Watch "Joaquin Phoenix Reveals Exotic-Skins Horrors" to learn more.
shearling
A shearling garment is made from a sheep or lamb who is shorn only once before slaughter. The animal is then skinned, and shearling is made from the skin with the wool still on it. It can take 25 to 45 individual sheep hides to make just one shearling garment.
